Transient energy-release pressure-driven microdevices

A class of transient pressure-driven micromechanical devices that have several advantages over conventional microelectromechanical actuators is described. Although most micromechanical systems developed to date have been involved with electromagnetic or electrostatic forces, in the future micromechanical systems will also involve fluid mechanics, gas dynamics, and thermodynamics at unusually small scales. Generally, the size scaling laws for fluid flows and heat transfer are well understood; however, at the scale of micromachines (say 1-100 mu m), the details of transient behavior become a dominant consideration. The basic principles of transient pressure-driven actuators and some of the factors that must be considered in such designs are discussed. >

[1]  Masayoshi Esashi,et al.  Normally closed microvalve and mircopump fabricated on a silicon wafer , 1989 .

[2]  K. J. Gabriel,et al.  Silicon micromechanics: sensors and actuators on a chip , 1990, IEEE Spectrum.

[3]  G. Pham-Van-diep,et al.  Nonequilibrium Molecular Motion in a Hypersonic Shock Wave , 1989, Science.

[4]  G. Caledonia.  Laboratory simulations of energetic atom interactions occurring in low earth orbit , 1989 .

[5]  Masayoshi Esashi,et al.  Normally close microvalve and micropump fabricated on a silicon wafer , 1989, IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, , Proceedings, 'An Investigation of Micro Structures, Sensors, Actuators, Machines and Robots'.

[6]  D. Kassoy.  The response of a confined gas to a thermal disturbance. I - Slow transients , 1979 .

[7]  H. Gg. Wagner,et al.  Walter G. Vincenti und Charles H. Krüger, Jr.: Introduction to Physical Gas Dynamics. John Wiley & Sons, New York, London, Sidney 1965. 538 Seiten. Preis: 102/— , 1966, Berichte der Bunsengesellschaft für physikalische Chemie.

[8]  J. C. Jaeger,et al.  Conduction of Heat in Solids , 1952 .

[9]  A. Pirri,et al.  Propulsion by Absorption of Laser Radiation , 1974 .

[10]  M. K. Moallemi,et al.  Significance on non-Fourier heat waves in microscale conduction , 1991 .

[11]  Jan H. J. Fluitman,et al.  A thermo-pneumatic actuation principle for a microminiature pump and other micromechanical devices , 1989 .

[12]  B. Hok,et al.  A silicon self-aligned non-reverse valve , 1991, TRANSDUCERS '91: 1991 International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators. Digest of Technical Papers.

[13]  H. Krier,et al.  Spectroscopic studies of plasma during cw laser gas heating in flowing argon , 1987 .

[14]  J. F. Clarke,et al.  Shocks generated in a confined gas due to rapid heat addition at the boundary. II. Strong shock waves , 1984, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[15]  D. Kassoy,et al.  The response of a confined gas to a thermal disturbance: rapid boundary heating , 1984 .

[16]  J. H. Jerman.  The fabrication and use of micromachined corrugated silicon diaphragms , 1990 .

[17]  Naomasa Nakajima,et al.  Study on microengines: miniaturing stirling engines for actuators , 1989 .

[18]  William S. N. Trimmer,et al.  Microrobots and micromechanical systems , 1989 .

[19]  E. Muntz,et al.  Rarefied Gas Dynamics , 1989 .